I'm starting to get a little worried about a EVGA Classified K Z370 Board I just bought a few weeks ago (My paranoia comes from a MSI Board I got burned on a few months ago from a highly rated seller that from all my testing turns out to be what is now a $140 reminder of not to get burned again hanging on my wall) So, I said never again and like everything else in my PC that has never failed me I bought a EVGA board. However I'm starting to get worried that not having a cpu and ram right off hand to test the board is gonna get me burned again and need some kind of advice or easiest route on how to test this board to make sure it's ok before I spend anymore money on getting it going (Keep in mind I do have some DDR4 RAM coming in today that will at least help me..I hope, but no compatible 1151 Z370 cpu on hand which is my mistake for thinking my local PC builder would have a chip on hand to help me test the board when it came in..he didn't)
I was told some premium boards will post to bios without a chip and if it didn't that the EVGA classified does have an internal speaker that would beep at me if it sensed anything wrong at all to let me know it was atleast alive. I plugged the board in with no ram, cpu or ssd and the board begin to power cycle about every few seconds and NO BEEPS from the on board speaker (A little worrying but does seem to be some what alive)
I have just a little over a week to open a case with ebay if this board is bad and could really use some advice on how to make sure this board is in fact ok, Cause honestly guys I can't use another loss again, between the msi board and a Dg-77 case I've lost about $220 in the last 3 months of trying to get my first DDR4 build going. ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
P.S: I was under the impression that the i5-9600k would only work on Z390 boards, but giving the budget I have to work with I got the Z370 board to use with the i5-8600k, but have now learned that in fact the i5-9600k will work with the Z370 boards. My question is what do I need to do to make sure the Z370 board I just bought will work with the i5 9600k?
 
Update: Figured I'd pull the board out and hook it up just to see if I could get at least a beep from the board telling me their is no CPU and RAM. Hooked up the board to a Corsair CX430M I use for testing with no cpu or ram and turned on the power from the psu and the board lights came on and stayed on. Then I pressed the power button on the board and get the C code, but the board immediately started power cycling over and that's all it would do. Didi notice the LED's on the top showing CPU error and ram error which is normal i'd say. But the cycling power on and off doesn't seem right..Does it?
 
Again any and all help is appreciated. 
let's just say I'm having a lot of bad luck lately..so please help =/

I could really use a little more info if possible, but thank you for your reply i was kinda already aware of that just need to figure out what's the best way to test the board works and get the bios updated either by maybe sending it to evga to have them do it or try and find out what's the cheapest cpu to buy to test it with. i just got offered a i5-9600k for $165 but a little afraid to buy it before making sure the board works (It's the same guy who sold me the board)
I just got my ram as well and tried testing it without a cpu again and it kinda act's like it wants to boot with a WD ssd but just starts power cycling.
Wish I could post a video to show what it's doing. If I don't get this figured out within a week or so he get's to keep my money and that would certainly suck. Has anyone been in this situation that can elaborate further on this?
 
And btw I'm not sure what the bios is on this and i'm sure i cleared Cmos on bios 1 to try and test the board but will the stock bios on the board at least support a Intel Celeron G4930 or G4900? I can get of those to test the board for around $40, or is their any alternatives?

I thank you very much for your reply.
I'll give them a call tomorrow then. Would you possible know how much it cost to send the board in?
I have the board's Serial number registered under my account although I bought it from someone else..Hope that isn't an issue?
I'm new to all this but have learned my hardware very quickly (Hints why I mostly only buy EVGA Hardware, it's engineering is impressive at times)
 
Again thank you for your reply I'm a little stressed about possibly losing another $130 board I've bought from someone. i've learned just cause they have %100 feedback means absolutely nothing.. I have a week before I can do nothing about it if the board is indeed dead.

That's the thing that got me into trouble in the first place was thinking I would be fine when I bought the board seeing how DDR4 Z series was so popular I figured my guy across the street would be able to help me, but instead I got from everyone "o wow that's a hard cpu to come by and not anything I would have in stock here" or they just didn't want to help at all. And I don't have any friends really that do this kind of thing so barrowing is out of the question =( 
I build custom Sim Racing wheels, shifters, Load cell Pedals etc for people which is kind of my job i guess working for myself, and the very small amount of people who have used my custom wheel bases have really loved my work, so the question from them became "what PC spec would you build for a set budget to run these demanding sims" And I basically came up with a EVGA themed PC build, however I've had a lot of set backs with this build starting with the EVGA DG-77 case that was the core of the build. I've had a hell of a time finding info or anyone to really help me, and honestly..as much as I love EVGA ever since I started building PC's but I'm becoming a little untrustworthy with them overall and I'll leave it at that.
I've looked through so many cheap CPU's that say they will work or that they won't work but never the same answer twice. So, it seems yet again I'm gonna have to just take a chance and buy a CPU and cross my fingers it works (Which is a i5-9600K that I'll have to still find a way to update the bios with maybe cause i don't know what bios I'm on) So, if this doesn't work I'll be out $130 for the board and $165 for the CPU + $140 on a msi board and $80 for a case.. That's around $420 in less than 3 months..
I simple cannot continue if I lose that cause I sold my PC to build this. My intentions were good but maybe my judgement could have been better, but I'm still new to this =/ It's just got me stressed out.
 
I'll take what info I have managed to get and run with it, but it looks as if my situation is gonna be a coin toss without any major help.
Thank you btw. like I said any suggestions or attempts of help are better than none at all, so I appreciate that =)
 
 

In the area I'm in It's near impossible to find anything like that.
It's one of the reasons I buy everything for PC online, everything here is Dell,HP and laptops.
Every time i mention the socket they act as if I'm building a bank for NASA "We don't have anything that powerful like that"
Really? It's a what 3-4 year old chip? Anyway ask the seller if he knew what bios it was on and he doesn't remember so I'm just gonna have to chance it. just wish I knew what Cheap Intel Celeron 4XXX chip would work no matter what..
But it looks like if the board is in fact dead I'm out another $130 and honestly if it does work I may even sell it just for the frustration it's caused alone. Have grown to despise this board rather quickly.
So anyone want a Classified K hit me up. I just need most of what I paid for it.

Seeing how I can't seem to get an answer about anything I ask, I'm gonna continue this in hopes that it helps someone else that may find themselves in my situation (Yes, i have seen other forum post and people saying the Intel Celeron G4900 will work to update the bios on a Z370 Classified k it does NOT specify what Bios was being used when that was done) So, i have bought an Intel celeron G4900 CPU to try and #1 See if the board actually works and #2 to see what bios it's on. I"m building my test bench right now and will give my results on if the CPU works and if it did what bios the board was on. Hopefully nobody else has to go through forum after forum and site after site as well as going through EVGA and still not getting any answers after a month. I will update this when I am done to save anyone else this nightmare. (This test is set to help anyone who buy's a Z370 Classified K that doesn't know what Bios it has, and what's the best/Cheapest way to update beyond Bios V1.08 so you can use a 9th Gen CPU with the Z370 EVGA Board) If i somehow get caught up in trouble shooting *Which is very possible* and I forget to update my findings please remind me and I'll let you know what i figured out.

I first would like to say thank you so much for even trying to help me, it doesn't matter if none of this works out just the fact that you're at least trying means a hell of a lot.
Ok, so here goes.. It didn't work at all.
I put a Win 10 boot on a usb drive as well hooked up my WD Blue SSD with my Win 10 O.S just in case (I tried both with just the usb and ssd no luck)
I hooked the board up to my bench connected a couple fans etc and tried booting the board, and the case fans turn a couple of times and the board was acting like it wanted to boot but immediately started power cycling over and over (Post Code: C and *Also noticed out of the LED's on top of the board for CPU Error and MEM error, only the MEM Error led was coming on, but not the cpu, so I started to think maybe the RAM wasn't seated or in wrong slot? So I tried them every single way possible even only using one stick etc etc..No luck) and btw the case fans I had hooked up had stopped spinning up at this point only every now and then kinda moving a little, and as well when i would turn the PSU on the board would start up power cycling without me even pressing the power button on the board. (Btw EVGA don't know why you put an on board speaker on this board because it never seems to indicate anything at all) I have a video of what the board is doing but I'm sure the forum will not allow me to post it in any way =(
I basically tried every trouble shooting trick i know on this board and could never get any video signal or post at all (BTW I am using the Intel Celeron G4900 CPU that's been said to work with this board, and on some sites such as B&H Video shows compatibility)
 
Sorry to give so much information I'm just trying to give the best information I can on what it's doing, and at this point I have nothing to lose because i'm past the return date on this board and i'm just stuck with it. Board $130, CPU $45+=$175 and if I have to RMA to EVGA to get them to sort it out it seems that's another $50 (Which is just the most insane thing I've heard to charge $50 for $9 shipping each way at best and to also just update the bios, but i'd rather have the enjoyment of throwing this board off my local bridge before spending over $225!!! on this board)
 
I've never done what you're speaking off but I'll certainly give it a try cause again nothing to lose at this point, and THANK YOU SO MUCH for trying to help me. i never thought a simple issue like this would be so damn hard for them to help me with or even really attempt to help with. It just seems like very cryptic one line answers most of them from what i've seen. I am embarrassed to admit that since january of 2019 I've spent an estimated $1,300-1,400 on EVGA parts and have mostly ended up having nothing but issues with either engineering oversites or software issues. the only EVGA product that didn't have software issues was the DG-77 case and that's only because it was controlling RGB functions.. I'm not one to rip on a company especially one that I started building PC's with and at one time would defend with great passion but I'm starting to notice a pattern here...
I'll look up how to do what you're talking about and try it out and let you know what happens..and again thank you.
 
 
 
 
 

I am still in a bind with this issue, so please to anyone that could possibly give me any information or advice I would appreciate it a lot.

👍

Funny you should ask.. In short, after 2-3 months of dealing with this and a stupid amount of money later and shipping the board to EVGA I know nothing more than the day I bought it. Paid $36 to ship it to them because they would quote "Update the Bios and test the board to make sure it was ok because of the christmas tree of errors it was throwing" I even put a note in the box asking them to make sure to let me know the board was in fact ok, and I paid a stupid high shipping cost to put insurance on the board and packed it up really tightly as to make sure NOTHING could go wrong. After a week of not hearing anything from them the board started it's journey back home.. and boy o boy did my good grace  towards this stupid board and EVGA die very quickly. The board was left at an abandoned apartment building even though it required a signature and I had to search around a neighborhood until I found it laying on a porch next to a garbage bag (Which is UPS fault all the way) buuut.. when i opened the box up I quickly realized the way EVGA packaged it up allowed the board to bounce around like it was in a fun house in which I found the RAM slot on the board had been hit hard enough it ripped the anti static bag and left a hole in the box, so now i may have a damaged board but I don't know. When I emailed EVGA asking them pretty much "Hey what have you guys done to my board over the last week, and how did you update the bios and check the board was ok.. Is the board even ok at all?" I got the most secret society, cryptic Area 51 BS answer I could ever imagine. This is from the actual email and quote..
"Thank you for your response, typically for these, we just flash them without the CPU and send them back. We have a method of doing so on our end, now can you take pictures of any damage on the board that you can see if not, don't worry about, the board should be okay"
 
You're kidding me..Right?
The ONLY reason I paid to ship this board is because I was under the impression that they would actually hook it up, and make sure it was good to go and that's what I expected. Could have cared less about the BIOS update I wanted to know FROM THE COMPANY themselves the board checked out ok and that they would actually use a CPU for the update to do so. "We have a method of doing so on our end" Makes me want to bash my face against a wall..
You mean you guys used a 8-Pin EEPROM tool to clamp the bios chip and update the bios that way? Which I had already explained I could have done myself and DID NOT want done to this board because you run the risk of corrupting the chip with a clamp style updater. And what's even worse is the fact they've had thousands of complaints about these boards and the entire time they've had "A way to update them without needing a CPU" Don't you think this is something you would want to relay to the people who bought them so that they don't have to waste their time and money sending the board in to have this done? 
 
TO ANYONE HAVING A BIOS PROBLEM WITH AN EVGA BOARD!! JUST BUY A "25 Series EEPROM Bios Flash Programmer" for $10 off Ebay and save yourself a lot of money and BS because that's what they use anyway and you don't need to risk your board being damaged in shipping or spend $30+ to ship it to them.
 
I'm just gonna stop here because I didn't want to even write this up because honestly it boils my blood beyond anything. I've spent 3 years using nothing but EVGA products and spending stupid amounts of money on their stuff, but honestly after this I'm done buying anything from them again. This Classified K Z370 board is the hands down worst motherboard and PC purchase I've ever made period!! And as far as how the board performs? I wouldn't know because I haven't managed to get it working in 3 months, and I am not buying anymore CPU's to find out either. I sent an email into response over this and never got anything back which is no suprise. i sent it to you EVGA to answer 2 questions and you seem to not care to answer either of them i just got the attitude of "It should be fine" what a terrific answer for someone who's actually a pretty mellow guy but this experience has brought me to the point of being a ranting, raving lunatic.
 
As for EVGA as a company.. I had real faith in them and had heard nothing but good things about them until I actually needed their help with something I for once couldn't figure out on my own (Because out of all the boards I have from MSI,ASUS and Early EVGA boards dating back to DDR3 2011, they ALL have a way to update the bios either by JP11 port or a removable Bios chip) Why they chose to cheap out on the Bios chip setup on these Z370 boards is beyond me, because they've been doing it properly since the early 2000's. Maybe at one point EVGA did have an incredible way of dealing with customers but these days "In my experience" I don't see it. I am in shock of how much money and time I wasted on this board, and how the PC I was building that was suppose to be all EVGA is now nothing. This board isn't the only cause of this frustration and anger either. The DG-77 case I bought and was going to use with this setup was an absolute nightmare and the worst PC case I have ever come across. the engineering and layout of that case made absolutely no sense at all, and turns out I'm far the only one who thinks so, but don't even want to get started on that. 
Still after all this i ask where I could find a FTW Z390 board and never got any response on that either, so I'm just done.
 
Evga you make some good stuff, but not good enough to deal with BS like this.
I've bought a lot of parts as of recent and all my MSI,ASUS and Gigabyte parts I've got to replace your stuff is working fine but the last 3 EVGA parts I've bought either don't work right/ fit properly, or don't work at all with the software you made for it.
You make good stuff, but not enough to risk losing money over. I'm out a grand total of $287 because of this board and that's just to much money to lose for me.
I'm Done.

Ya know it's not even so much the board anymore at this point even though they made a horrible decision setting up the Dual Bios on this board.
It's the fact that I'm not the typical "Rich Elite EVGA Customer" who has thousands of dollars to spend on EVGA's "High priced Premium Products"
I am a very poor guy with no kids or wife, that struggles every single day working for myself doing what I can to make money. Anything from repairing phones, motherboards, sim racing equipment, Playstations/ Xbox, controllers etc etc etc..
Even before Covid hit I was doing what I could to survive because the town I live in doesn't have a market for what i do, and the 2 PC repair shops here are family owned and they get all the business while overcharging people in a massive way for simple repairs, but of course they don't know it because they don't know they're being ripped off. Long story short they bury little guys like me working from their home. Covid has killed whatever momentum I had, and what customers I did have are afraid to spend money on my help/ repairs.
 
Most people losing $300+ on a motherboard is no big deal, but to me it's a death sentence for the money I have saved to buy broken electronics and repair them for profit. It's impossible for me to sell this board because I refuse to to sell it without knowing if in fact it's ok because I'm not giving this money draining headache to someone else, and they lose money. Best situation I'll do well if I can make back the money I lost on this project in 8 months with how things are going. I was on track to making $500 off this PC build I was doing for my Dad's long term friend when all this started with this pos board (He had bought my heavily modified Thrustmaster T300 I had built and have been trying to market to pro sim racing drivers, and he absolutely loved it telling me "If you can make a wheel perform this wheel, I'd love to see you build the rest of my setup" and I talked him into trusting me on the first thing on the list..
He had a very tired DDR3 MSi board with a GTX 750ti PC that was around 9-10 years old. I told him "I want to build you a beautiful ALL Black EVGA setup with a i5-9600K, EVGA Z390 (Had to go with a Z370 because of price) and EVGA DG-77 Case and I'll do it with no risk to you!! and if I fail the cost of it falls on me..) and guess what happened? Yup, the first 3 EVGA parts I buy don't work.. The DG-77 Case wouldn't even fit the EVGA 280mm AIO or any AIO for that matter "Top or Front mount without turning it wrong side up" (Just a note the DG Case is horrible don't ever buy one) the AIO software wouldn't work at all, the case RGB on the bottom was dead, and then the topping on the cake this Classified K Z370 money pit motherboard that has caused me a massive amount of trouble all because "Let's use a Dual bios with soldered Bios chips with no way to update other than sending the board 3,000 across the US putting the board in danger of being damaged in shipping, tell the customer will test the board and update the bios and act all secretive when he ask normal questions like "What did you do to my board?" and not tell him jack nothing. He'll pay $36 to ship it and have to pay insurance because he doesn't want the board damaged but will send it back lose in a box not having the same respect. Even after he's spent all this money and still stuck with us after months of BS will have him spend more money and not solve anything leaving him in the same boat asking "Is this board ok to use? Was the bios even updated?
(Apparently typing this out wasn't a good idea..R.I.P Old Logitech K800 keyboard =( You are now pieces on my work table)
 
Needless to say my dad's friend isn't getting his lovely PC build, I'm being stuck with the bill and not making the  $500 I desperately needed and my poor old good hearted dad is wanting to sell his Martin guitar to give me money to make up for the lose "Which I refuse to let him do", and my trust to EVGA has certainly been poisoned.
It's the fact I trusted this company so much I never dreamed of making a fool of myself ranting and raving about them to the point I was told "Stop cursing we have to edit it out" (Note on that btw: I'm cursing because you guys have costed me $800 in 3 months!!!, I think I have a right to be a little upset..No?)
So, here is where I've ended.. In a forum looking like a dang fool. I have NEVER EVER had to ask you for help EVGA not once in the many years I've done this, and even after all this I tried again by asking "Can I find a Z390 FTW to buy from you guys?" No reply back..
I have very little to work with and whatever money I spend it has to be worth it, and I chose YOU as the company to have my back and the one time I needed you I got "We have a special way of doing it" what does that even mean?
 
After everything I still tried and done what you ask me to do and sent the board in for an RMA, and after seeing how the RMA was handled plus everything else.. Nah, I'm good. I'll just take my money elsewhere. I'm glad you solved this issue with the Z390 and Z490 boards but you could have owned up to the awful decision that was the setup on these Z370 boards. you owned up to the issue on the FTW GTX cards overheating and catching fire which was impressive I admit, but if you look at how many forum post their are about this board and it's Bios issue it's just silly.
 
I have said what I needed to say many times over with evidence to prove it.
I would think you would accept the idea of a person willing to spend this much time giving you feedback on things but apparently not.
My advice to anyone who buys one of these boards and find yourself in the same situation.. SEND IT BACK!! before you can't. Avoid this board like the plague. It's not worth it period, and you can get a much better board for less. I know it's tempting and looks great but unless it has the newest Bios just leave it alone. I would like to comment on it's performance but as you can see I've never got to use the board so I wouldn't know.
As for updating the this boards Bios if you still want to keep it..? Just buy a EEPROM tool kit off Ebay for $9 and do it yourself, instead of spending the money to RMA it because that's what EVGA does (But is somehow a "Special" in house secret..?) No, it's not.. they just use a flashing Tool and that's it.
 
I'm done, I'm out. I hate this board with a passion, and all it's good for at this time is a $300+ Target for a .22 LR with a full auto mod and a 150 round drum "And yes I'm gonna film this board being turned to dust"
 
Much love. Take care of yourselves.
Peace. 
 
"E veryone V alues G reat A ssistance"
They in fact do..  Do you?